


If only

by curlydadan



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 10:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17744090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlydadan/pseuds/curlydadan
Summary: If only things went like this instead...Series of drabbles. More chapters to be added, pairings will vary.





	If only

**Author's Note:**

> Modern AU, in which Luffy and Zoro work in their real life careers as told by Eiichiro Oda in SBS volume 76.

It's almost 5am. 22 hours done, only 2 to go, when Zoro is just about to start his last break on his shift, work calls. There's been a big house fire tonight, and the police is wanted on the scene.

When they arrive at the smoldering property less than fifteen minutes later with his partner, it's mostly quiet. 

There are a few curious onlookers in their pajamas whispering amongst themselves and one reporter and a photographer interviewing a firefighter. He is blonde with a youthful face, with a fist-sized burn scar marks the skin around his left eye. Despite his youthful exterior, a sense of maturity surrounds him. Probably the fire chief.

Zoro decides not to approach him for the moment, he'd rather avoid having to talk to the media right now, so he goes to the firefighter nearest him using the water hose on the remains of the house, making sure the fire is completely put out.

"What's going on here?"

The guy operating the hose spares a glance at him at his voice, and breaks a sunny smile that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. As he does so, he takes one hand off the hose to lift his mask off his face as if in greeting. Soot stains the bridge of his nose.

"Good morning! Eh, not much, just a regular house fire, but Sabo said he's suspicious of it being arson. I don't really know much about it, but I trust Sabo!" he smiles proudly, and nods at the direction of the man Zoro presumed to be the fire chief.

"I see. I'll try to talk to him in a bit."

Zoro is lightly taken aback by this guy's cheery demeanor; it's early as hell and a family just lost their home. Even though Zoro isn't a very tactful man himself, it seems inappropriate even to him to be so joyful in this situation. Seems like firefighter guy either doesn't care or can't read the situation, and he suspects it's a case of the latter, the boy doesn't seem like the kind to be mean-spirited.

"It's a family of four, parents and two kids. Oh yeah, and a dog! It's old and it went to hide under a bed, I was the one who saved it," he giggles to himself.

"The kids were so happy when I got their dog out! They cried when I returned him to them."

Zoro isn't sure what to say to this, so he just kinda nods. Firefighter guy doesn't seem discouraged by his lack of response.

"Have you ever had a dog?" Not even waiting for a reply, he continues.

"I haven't, but I always liked them. Maaan, stuff like this makes me happy to be a firefighter! You know, helping people. Seeing other people happy makes me happy." He sighs deeply. "I mean, they're sad right now 'cause they lost their house, but they were happy to learn that they all survived." 

Firefighter guy looks him in the eyes at the end of his rambling and smiles, radiating warmth that has nothing to do with the fire. Somehow, Zoro can't help but smile back with a nod and a "Yeah," and shyly avert his gaze. Something in the young firefighter's eyes feels like he is looking into Zoro's soul and very being, making him feel disconcertingly aware of himself.

It's surprisingly pleasant to just listen to him talk, minutes pass by easily. For a moment, when the young firefighter holds his gaze in silence, he notices his unruly black hair, large, dark eyes and the small scar underneath his left eye. Zoro wonders how he got that. Maybe a work accident?

They stand there for a moment just smiling and looking at each other, the scene of the fire entirely forgotten, until Zoro is startled by a hand on his shoulder. He yelps in surprise, causing the firefighter guy to laugh, so that he loses control of the fire hose for a moment and sprays Zoro and Sabo completely wet, the water pressure toppling them over on the ground. This makes him laugh even harder and the fire hose goes wild, spurting water all over them until someone quickly closes the valve at the side of the fire engine.

"Luffy! How many times have I told you to focus when handling the hose?!"

"Ehehe... Sorry, Sabo. My mistake!"

Zoro just stares at Luffy, stunned. The cold water definitely shook off his tiredness from earlier.

"Uhh... and sorry, mister police officer..?" Luffy offers a hand to help him up with a meek smile. Even so, his small smile continues to be warm and his apology can be seen in his posture. He doesn't stand as tall and proud as before. 

"Zoro." He takes Luffy's hand to get up, fixing him with an angry stare.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Luffy."

"Yeah, I figured," he grumbles as a response. Luffy scrunches his eyebrows up, thinking.

"I can make up for this," he exclaims as he slams his fist on his palm and straightens his back, his earlier bashful demeanor gone. "Y'know what, my shift ends at 7am so I can treat you to breakfast! I know this great diner, they have the best pancakes."

"I don't like sweet stuff." Zoro looks at Luffy, eyeing him, "But I'll accept the diner breakfast. My work ends at 7 too."

"Great, it's a deal! Here's my number!" Luffy beams at him, and before he has chance to protest, he has already snagged a pen from Zoro's breast pocket and scribbled his phone number on his palm.

Zoro flushes lightly at this, but Luffy is already off to start packing up one of their fire trucks and another fireman takes his place on the hose.

Meanwhile, Sabo has stood up himself. The fire chief is still right there next to him, and holds a stern gaze at Zoro, who is still looking at Luffy's retreating back, like issuing a warning. 

"He's my brother."

Then, almost like nothing ever happened, he suddenly switches to a polite smile.

"So, about this possible arson..."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! Sorry for it being so short.  
> This was written entirely on my phone in one go, because it was the easiest to use. My computer is thrash.
> 
> I've been into One Piece for the longest time, but I haven't been able to write or draw almost anything for it in forever. I'm basically a fandom lurker.
> 
> Almost two weeks ago, I finally took on a mission to write something, or anything really. I first wrote up a couple of small ideas, and then started working on this one. Writing is a lot harder than I remember it being, but part of that is probably because English is not my first language.
> 
> I'm very nervous about publishing this, I've actually been avoiding thinking about it. I'm also never happy with my work, and could edit and rewrite parts of this to the end of the world. But now it's time to get this out there, this is the best I can do right now. And more importantly because this world does not have enough ZoLuZo in it. Such an underrated pairing.
> 
> Critique, improvements and other comments are very welcome, and have a chance of encouraging me to write more. I worry about the readability, grammar and formatting. I'm so lost with formatting, had some trouble with that on here.
> 
> I'm thinking I'd like to write something for Valentine's, but I'm not sure if I have the time for it. A sequel for this one has crossed my mind as well, but we'll see!


End file.
